I picked my jag up from the shop and just thought, "what a beautiful line-up".

Not pictured was an E-type in the dark garage there with an audi R8 and handful of late model Porsche and a Range Rover.

I think you can see a white hood of a XJ behind the Bentley as well, lol.

 

From a typical day at my British car repair facility. I never mind the wait when I have one of my cars serviced there. They specialize in Jaguar and Aston-Martin and have a couple of mechanics from the UK to keep everything tickety-boo.

 

Is that in Scottsdale?

 

Yes. British Automotive on North 83rd Place. They do my annual servicing. The Jaguar dealership is even farther away than this place.

 

I figured. A buddy has a DB9 Volante manual who goes there and has or had an XJS converted to a inline 6 supercharged manual.

 

That 575M is beautiful! And I'm not just saying that because my car is a deep metallic flake red, haha. I've often thought the 550/575 were some of the best designs Ferrari has ever produced

On a related note, here in DFW I looked at two XKRs at a truck shop, where the owner collected and sold cars as a hobby. The interior garage had two Audi R8s parked back to back, plus a number of Porsche, a few Corvettes, and the XKRs.

The other day at lunch I pulled into a restaurant and there was anew model Ferrari and a 2010-2011XK parked side by side, both black. I took comfort in knowing my XKR was nicer looking and more powerful, than the other one, haha. Probably not as powerful as the new model Ferrari though.

In our office parking garage, I'm often flanked by Tesla, Mercedes E class AMGs, BMW M series, and the other day, a Lotus Evora.

 

My late best friend had a 550 Maranello that I drove on occasion, nice car, sort of twitchy to drive. It's one of the most affordable 12 cylinder Ferraris along with its sister the 456. It's probably a good time to buy one while they're still reasonable. They haven't appreciated yet like most F cars. And by the way, he had "dash shrinkage" on his leather dash too.

 

Ferrari's don't seem to hold up as well with age as an Aston Martin. I see plenty side by side of the same year and mileage at the local AM dealer and the little things on the Ferrari just seem to deteriorate quicker. That being said, the Ferrari still maintains its value well, but cost more annually to own.

 

I had to revisit today to get my washer fluid stuff worked out and I spent some time admiring the rear end of the R8. The front was all smashed to hell from what I hear was a little too much lead foot action. That engine and all of that gorgeous metal work is a sight to behold. The exhaust was pulled off and all that glistening metal would make a fighter jet proud. There are some serious forgings, machinings and just stunningly well done weldments. I wish I would have taken a picture.

 

I sold my Jaguar to buy a 32k mile '99 Ferrari 360. I owned it for about a year and a half. In that time, I drove it across the US from Denver to LA, LA to Vegas via Big Bear and Death Valley (in JULY!!), through Zion and Valley of Fire, then back to Denver from Vegas in a single day. I summited the very top of Pikes Peak (special clearance event, most people cannot get up there in their cars - bus only), drove hundreds of miles per trip around the Rockies, and was featured on the cover of an automotive magazine. In that time, the only issues I had were a dead alternator (3 weeks and $630 fix) and a fuel pressure unit issue. Everything else was wear items (brakes, tires, etc) and routine maintenance (fluids). I put about 11K miles on it and sold it for nearly $20K more than I bought it earlier this month. It was one of the best cars I've ever owned, and I will forever miss it.

 

I would suggest that the cost of "normal" service based on scheduled maintenance would be significantly higher. This would be driven by dealer service costs. Also the 15K service along with the 30K service would scare some people. It appears you had a good example of the 360 but their history is not very good. Resale is usually great as most of them are sold while they are low mileage cars and the service intervals have not been met. Good luck with your future purchases.

 

do you have more info in the converted XJS? I am located in the west valley and have a XJ40 that might need an engine swap, is this auto shop recommended ?

 

Sure, belts are due now, and it's not like I didn't put thousands into updating the cosmetics and a few other items. But I got an example where I had extensive documentation to the tune of nearly $30K in repairs and replacements in the 2-3 years before I bought it, so I knew it was a very good find. But other than the belts, an oil change, and possibly transmission fluid and air filter change, there's nothing due on the car that would stop it from being driven long distance again. I just did the brakes, machined the rotors, flushed the brake fluid, put on all new tires, and the clutch is still in great condition. Mechanically, it was fine driving every weekend for 200+ miles without complaint for the past few months before I sold it. Yes, you could also make the argument for bushings but those are QOL items that marginally impact ride harshness in an already harsh riding sports car, so minimal impact there. And they affect Jaguars too, as I know from replacing them on my Jaguar to the tune of over $2,0000.

But I'm far from the only example of someone with a distance driving, high mileage Ferrari. They're not as delicate as people think - they're just more expensive to maintain if you do have a big job. But find a well documented, well sorted one and you can easily dispell these notions of reliability on the modern ones just as I did.